Weekly Phyz-Nerd Topic: Part Zero

Hi Tex, I promisepromise I will talk about black holes. I want that post to be real good so I'm compiling info to give ya. For now though, those are called "jets." They're giant columns of charged particles that are being ejected by the black hole. Don't get me wrong, they're not coming from inside the black hole event horizon. Nothing that goes into the black hole ever comes out. In that video particles from the star are being pulled in and around the black hole. Moving charged particles create magnetic fields. It is believed that the black hole's tangled, spinning magnetic fields -- generated by the star's charged matter spinning around it -- causes some sort of overload that creates those ginormous jets. Really, no one knows right now. It's a pretty active area of research in astrophysics. Also, very interesting, those jets (when pointed at the Earth, so we see them in our telescopes) are some of the brightest objects in the Universe.

Great question!